Letter to Trump: ID and Tax Illegal Immigrants to Help American Workers

Dear President Donald J. Trump,

You have delivered on so many promises including the border, completing 222 miles and paving the way for the rest of it.  Please continue appointing good judges and draining the swamp. 

Unfortunately, Congress has been stagnant on immigration. 

As a life-long politically active conservative, I am asking you to address worker misclassification. America needs to identify and tax the 11-20 million illegal immigrants who are working here every day.

I believe the ultimate goal of your recent immigration proclamation was to improve the labor market for American workers. Misclassification harms them!

Misclassification occurs when employers treat their workers as independent subcontractors when they are actually employees. This allows employers to circumvent our IRS/DOL labor laws. By misclassifying, these employers are able to avoid paying Medicare, Social Security, unemployment taxes, Worker’s Comp, and overtime wages or even minimum wages. Obviously they have virtually no labor burden. This enables these employers to undercut and underbid businesses and workers who are playing by the rules, and it suppresses competing American workers’ wages.

Currently none of our enforcement efforts are directed at this problem; they are all directed at employers that play by the rules, completing I-9s and deducting and matching taxes. In addition, our immigration system has no viable method for the 11-20 million unauthorized immigrants to earn legal status to make them eligible to work for employers that complete I-9s and follow the law. Because of on-the-job training, these are skilled workers America cannot afford to lose.  As you know, there is no “line” for them to “get legal,” so millions of undocumented immigrants continue to be misclassified.

Texans for Sensible Immigration Policy is supported by virtually every major construction association in Texas. Here is our proposed solution:

Create a method (our immigration lawyer Charles Foster will gladly draft it) for unauthorized immigrants who have no violent criminal record to earn their legal status. It should require them to be positively identified, pass a criminal background check, promise to learn English, and agree to work only for employers that deduct and match taxes. Combine this with an improved IRS enforcement against employee misclassification, and you will have made the greatest leap forward for American workers in our lifetime!

Making sure everyone is properly identified and taxed will increase the collection of payroll tax revenues without raising taxes on law abiding workers. It will also reduce the incentives for employers to take advantage of unauthorized workers, and it will level the playing field for law abiding American workers and employers.

Mr. President, challenge Democrats and Republicans to get this done now, and if they ignore you, issue an emergency order to ID and Tax the 11-20 million unauthorized immigrants who are here now. Give them no short cuts to citizenship. Tell Congress you are doing their job and agree to lift your order as soon as they actually do their job.

May God continue to keep you healthy, bless you and your family, and guide you as our president.

Together we can make America even greater!